Do you speak, write or understand more than one language? Have an idea how many people are bilingual in the world? The world’s population encompasses 40% monolingual, and 43% bilingual people with the remaining being multilingual.
That means more than half speak two languages or more. So, what’s so special about the bilingual or multilingual brain? Bilingual individuals have been known to exhibit extended concentration spans.
as it strengthens the attention system in the front of the brain by constantly selecting from two available languages enhances powers of concentration. Why does this happen? When bilingual people speak, both their language faculties are activated.
However, they rarely make the mistake of choosing a word from the wrong language. This is because the prefrontal cortex focuses on a specific language at a particular moment, making you a more focused person. Does this also enhance the brain’s capacity to think and react faster?
It is because the bilingual brain has improved cognitive abilities such as reading, remembering and thinking. A study conducted by researchers where bilingual and monolingual children were asked to sort shapes and colours revealed that bilingual children were faster at sorting items compared to monolingual children, who tended to react slower when shapes were added. This generally indicates a second language heightens the brain's executive functions such as planning, problem-solving, and other intellectually demanding activities.
Therefore, for kids, remembering a set of instructions to follow while getting ready for school in the morning or, for adults, while driving a vehicle, It’s all about shifting and holding information in the mind. Bilingual individuals have denser grey matter. Grey matter makes up the outermost layer of the brain, being home to neurons that process information and release new information.
It is important because it allows us to control our movements, and regulate our emotions. While being bilingual reflects better health of grey matter, there are positive indications that it may delay the onset of dementia. Bilingual patients were diagnosed at an average age of 75.
5 years old which is four years later than monolingual patients on average at 71. 4 years old. What else can your bilingual brain do?
It can raise your language proficiency to learn more languages easily because your brain is already primed for learning and adapting to different languages. With that, you can learn about other cultures and broaden your views of the world too. Being bilingual does not necessarily make you smarter but it does make the brain more active, complex, and healthy.
So, why not learn a second language?
